GOP Governor Tate Reeves Signs Bill Eliminating State Income Tax In Mississippi

2 days ago

Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) signs legislation ending the state income tax in Mississippi.

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Transcript

00:00Well, good afternoon. I want to welcome all of y'all here today for a truly

00:28historic occasion. My friends in the House and in the Senate, members of my administration,

00:36and yes, even the press, welcome to the signing of House Bill 1.

00:44Today is a day that will be remembered not just for the headlines, not just for the politics,

00:52but for the profound generational change it represents.

00:59I must say, it feels like it's been a long time coming, but after many, many, many years of hard

01:06work, we can all stand together and say that we have accomplished income tax elimination

01:14in the state of Mississippi. Let me say that again. Mississippi will no longer tax the work,

01:24the earnings, or the ambition of its people. Now, I want to be clear. This didn't happen

01:33overnight, and it didn't happen alone. This day is the result of years of work

01:39by dedicated leaders who shared the vision and had the courage to act.

01:47In my State of the State this past January, I called on my friends in the legislature to

01:52have this be the year that we got the ball across the finish line, and by working together,

02:00we did exactly that. Transformational policy such as this requires all of us to work hard,

02:10and I'm proud to say we have achieved a truly transformational goal. You know, and I know,

02:20and all these folks behind me know the difficulties, the intricacies, but ultimately,

02:28the rewards of passing this legislation and ending our tax on work once and for all.

02:37To all the members of the House and the Senate who rolled up their sleeves and got this done,

02:47we debated, we negotiated, but in the end, we stayed focused on the goal.

02:55I would submit to you that that is what real leadership looks like,

03:00and these men and women behind me are the ones who did that, and I'm so proud to stand

03:06shoulder to shoulder with them who made this historic moment possible.

03:12First, I want to personally thank all of them for their hard work. I also want to take the

03:21opportunity now to recognize Lieutenant Governor Hoseman. Thank you, Governor, and thank you to

03:27the Senate for your hard work on this bill. So, at this time, I'm going to ask Lieutenant

03:33Governor Hoseman to come up and share his remarks. Thank you.

03:40Thank you, Governor. Today, as the Governor mentioned, today is a historic day in Mississippi,

03:46and one that's going to bring positive and lasting change to the state of Mississippi,

03:52and we're all proud to be here. Some may have doubted, and sometimes maybe even ourselves,

04:00whether or not we could have one big, beautiful bill. This legislation eliminates the income tax,

04:09reduces the grocery tax, maintains our transportation system, and yes,

04:15the public ensures the solvency of the public employee's retirement system.

04:22So that our current employees and our retirees will all get their funds. You know, some of y'all

04:29have focused on a typo in the bill, and I'd use the biblical analogy,

04:35let he who has not had a typo cast the first stone.

04:42It continues to be the intent of the Mississippi Legislature and the Senate

04:46to reduce and eliminate the income tax as we look at our state revenue. We go forward with this.

04:52The Governor's exactly right about that, but today we're celebrating what the plan did,

04:59and it builds a stronger and more prosperous Mississippi, and it's obvious from what we

05:04will do going forward, and what we do that for, as we've often said, is because our children and our

05:10grandchildren deserve a better Mississippi, and this starts them on that track. So I'd be remiss if

05:17I did not, and I appreciate the Governor speaking of this, thank the members of the Senate and the

05:20House, and everyone who contributed to this, to this today, particularly Senator Hawkins, who's

05:27here, Senator Hobson, who actually is working today on the school board, Senator Johnson,

05:33Senator Sparks, and our staff who worked so many hours trying to get together something that came

05:39today in conjunction with the with the Mississippi House. I would warn my House colleagues that

05:48legislation coming from the Senate in the future will look like a continuing sentence.

05:56That's because I have removed the period from the legislative drafting committee,

06:02and it'll stay removed. We do appreciate everybody coming today. It is, it's a special

06:08day in Mississippi. We watch the trees show growth, watch the grass come up,

06:13and we're going to watch Mississippi grow because of what we did today. So thank you very much.

06:22Thank you, Governor, and I would, of course, be remiss without mentioning one of my

06:28longtime personal friends, a truly good man and a great Senator for my home county, and that's

06:35certainly Senator Josh Harkins. Serving as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is

06:40no walk in the park, and he handles difficult and important issues for our state every single

06:45day in every single session, and he does it admirably. So thank you, Senator Harkins,

06:50and thank you to the entire Mississippi State Senate for your work on this effort.

07:00I must also recognize my friends in the House for their hard work

07:04and laser focus on eliminating our state income tax. Perhaps, wow, this is really saying something,

07:10but perhaps there was no one that's been more focused and more of a champion for this issue

07:16than House Ways and Means Chairman Representative Trey Lamar. Representative, I must commend you

07:22for your incredibly hard work on House Bill 1 and for your determination in seeing this

07:28across the finish line. Congratulations.

07:37As y'all know, for many of us, this is something that we have been working on literally

07:43since 2015, with the first bill changing and reducing our income tax, passing the

07:51Mississippi legislature in 2016, the second bill doing the same, reducing our income tax in 2022,

07:59which has gotten us to this point where we can fully eliminate it. Now I'm going to ask

08:06Speaker of the House Jason White to share his thoughts on this remarkable achievement. Mr.

08:11Speaker, you continue to lead the House chamber in accomplishing great things for the people

08:16of Mississippi. From your first day in your position, we aligned on this purpose

08:21and worked side by side to make it happen. So I appreciate you, Mr. Speaker, and the floor is yours.

08:34Thank you, guys.

GOP Governor Tate Reeves Signs Bill Eliminating State Income Tax In Mississippi

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